call of duty: black ops cold war - ultimate edition pc

This year’s multiplayer offering goes back to basics, for the better.

Unfortunately, the late-game twists of the Cold War campaign were a predictable retread of old ground, but at the very least, they allowed for some mind-bending architectural feats that really made the most of the graphical power of the next-gen consoles. It looks fantastic too, especially at 60 fps in 4K on the PS5, with our old friend ray tracing working its lighting magic on the slick streets of Stasi-infested East Germany. It was enough to make us break out a notepad, which is always a treat in a modern AAA game, where puzzles are usually liquidated. There’s enough variety in the mission locations and gameplay to keep you interested, and we enjoyed the fact you could collect evidence in the essential missions to complete optional puzzles that further contextualize the clandestine narrative.

It’s propaganda, but at least the 80s soundtrack is cool, and it doesn’t drag on too long, clocking in at around six hours. Expect gruesome takedowns, rockets blowing up beautiful villages, cheesy mission codenames and helicopters exploding while you’re in them. There are some standout missions where the game flips the script and slows down the pace to create Hitman-esque stealth sequences, but the whole thing boils down into a popcorn action-movie of questionable ethics.

Call of duty: black ops cold war - ultimate edition pc